Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election. Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.
"The one thing that frightens me more than anything else are the ideologues. We've seen too many," said 80-year-old Air Force veteran Donn Spegal, a lifelong Republican from St. Petersburg, who sees McCain's new running mate as the kind of "wedge issue" social conservative that has made him disenchanted with his party.
"I'm truly offended by Palin,'' said Republican Philinia Lehr, 37, of Largo, a full-time mother with a nursing degree who voted for George Bush in 2004. Like Palin, she has five children and she doesn't buy that the Alaska governor can adequately balance her family and the vice presidency.
...Of the 11 undecided voters participating in the discussion one recent evening at the Times — four Republicans, five Democrats, and two registered to no party — only two Republican men applauded the selection of Palin.
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"That was almost insulting," Democrat Rhonda Laris of Temple Terrace, another strong Clinton backer skeptical of Obama, said of the Palin pick. "Do they think we're really stupid? … I'm definitely leaning toward the Democratic side now. Sarah Palin scares ... me."
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Palin Driving Swing Voters to Obama in Florida
During the height of Palinmania in early September, I and a few other sane people said she would give McCain some states but make others like Florida more competitive for Obama. This piece is mostly anecdotal, but I think the phenomenon is real:
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Yet Sarah Palin drew a crowd of 60,000 north of Orlando on Sunday.
Nearly as much as Obama drew in Portland, Oregon earlier this year. But there is one major difference -- Palin did not have to attract them with a free concert by a popular band, in order to get them to watch her speak.
It wasn't 60,000. But regardless of the numbers, there's certainly no shortage of morons in any state.
Gee, seems like only a month ago that your buddy was making fun of "celebrity" Obama. Now he has a VP who is *only* a celebrity -- no substance at all, just pretty smiles and waves to go along with her corruption and pathological lies.
"Gee, seems like only a month ago that your buddy was making fun of "celebrity" Obama. Now he has a VP who is *only* a celebrity"
Except that she is also the very popular governor of Alaska, and has more executive experience that the other three candidates combined. You know, as governor, you can't vote "Present."
On another note, I wish you would stop with the "pathalogical liar" tag, but I suspect you won't. You are very clearly using the term "pathalogical liar" incorrectly, and if you did the slightest bit of research on the term, you might realize that.
"It wasn't 60,000. But regardless of the numbers, there's certainly no shortage of morons in any state.
I am not sure why those who blog do so, but I would think that those who do, are hoping to convince their readers that their opinions are valid and worthy of consideration.
It occurs to me that those who take the time to vote on election day support their candidate for all kinds of reasons -- some more valid than others. I support McCain because I have looked at the information, and arrived at a conclusion. I recognize that others can look at the same information, and come to a different conclusion.
When you blindly call those that disagree with you "morons," you call into question your integrity, and you give people a simple reason to discredit you.
You are better than this.
"Except that she is also the very popular governor of Alaska"
Was.
"and has more executive experience that the other three candidates combined."
Spare me the GOP talking points. Seriously.
It's not about experience as much as it is about having the mental faculties and judgment to lead. This woman couldn't even run a town of 6,000 without screwing it up: failed projects, increasing debt load, corruption, cronyism, attempts at censorship, and so forth.
Be honest: if she had tried to run on her own and actually get onto a ticket via voters, would she have done any better than, say, Giuliani? Give me a break.
This woman is an empty shell who didn't earn anything, and was picked ONLY for her celebrity status. Whatever you want to say about Obama, he earned his nomination with a lot of hard word work and millions of votes.
"On another note, I wish you would stop with the "pathalogical liar" tag, but I suspect you won't. You are very clearly using the term "pathalogical liar" incorrectly, and if you did the slightest bit of research on the term, you might realize that."
She fits every definition of the term that I've ever read.
"It occurs to me that those who take the time to vote on election day support their candidate for all kinds of reasons -- some more valid than others. I support McCain because I have looked at the information, and arrived at a conclusion. I recognize that others can look at the same information, and come to a different conclusion."
That's fine, and good for you on it. But you are not the sort of person I was addressing with my insult.
That is reserved for people who make voting decisions based on things like "she's hot" or "she's a hockey mom" or "I think I could have a beer with him/her". This is how we ended up with the last 8 disastrous years of the Bush administration, and I will not pull any punches in calling the people who actually think Palin is worth electing what they are: morons.
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